The Pony Rider Boys with the Texas Rangers; Or, On the Trail of the Border Bandits

a dense growth of scrub oak, T

ile directly inland. When you have done so turn due west. I don't think you can

are you

to make camp. I shall have easier going th

?" asked Ned wit

thills. I'll come up from the west and you from the east. In that way we sh

we shall find

ot seen our movements out there. He will go to the stream

. But what are we going

be guided by circumstances. But whatever you do, Ned, don

ow, Tad, I'm thinking you and I are biting off

manage it

nk this fellow i

s if he were trying to

. But w

s right when he said the fellow

to do it again, i

d his mistake, Ned. You observ

dded thou

ls, is the point we have agreed upon meeting. You will strike the stream farther back, then follow it, but be very careful. Be an Indian, Ned.

t--never you f

here w

at all. Ned, obeying his instructions, found a canyon up which he crawled, neither boy making a sound. They had agreed upon the

aking his way into the range of mountains, but as he proceeded and found no one there he grew more bo

eyes. The lad climbed the side of the rocks, keeping his body hidden in the foliage as much as possible. He had got about half way up when he paused to tak

"Yes it must be Chunky. I'll bet the professor doesn't know the

a

er could not repress a laugh. He had a pretty clear idea as to what had caused Chunky's sudden disappearance. It did not occur to him that possibly Stacy had been hit. As a

whence the shot had seemed to come. Ned had located the sound much nearer than had Tad. The latter struck off in a southeasterly direction which carried him still farther into the hills. He had reasoned that the sho

t immediately after

ce to show the fellows what sort of a trailer I am. They d

his companion would make no false moves. Each boy was determined to round up the m

in the second, the professor would become alarmed and come in search of them were their return delayed too long. This was

on a round stone. Ned fell crashing into a heap of rotting limbs and went floundering from ther

, his face scratched, very much c

and for a blundering idiot he's always held the cup up to the present time. I'm glad no one saw me ma

ortunity to shoot, had caught the distant sound of crashing twigs. It might have been a falling tree, it might have been an an

ready had done. At last, finding what seemed to him to be a path, Ned began climbing the side of the gully. Had the boy first taken a survey of the ground at the top of the rise, he might possibly have made a discovery, and then

tain side. The mountaineer evidently changed his mind about shooting, for he changed ends with the gun and sat waiting. A few moments later

see the figure of a man leaping upon him. The boy went down under the crushing

. Everything turned su